The technical field generally relates to control systems for hybrid power trains. Hybrid power trains utilize more than one power source to generate the torque and power needed to meet the current demands for the application in which the hybrid power train is installed. The various power sources and peripheral devices may be supplied by a number of different manufacturing entities. Various devices may include electronic controls that manage the sensors and actuators related to each device. Further, some system manufacturers prefer to control some devices that are not directly supplied by the system manufacturer. As an example, a transmission manufacturer may wish to control the torque output of the engine and/or motor portions of a hybrid power train, either continuously or intermittently.
Adding control from a manufacturer for a device that is not supplied by the manufacturer creates a complex controls environment. Control elements provided on separate computing devices introduce potential lag periods within the control loop. The lag periods may be managed by using synchronous datalink communications and/or dedicated hardware communications, but these solutions are expensive and must be customized for each application.
Control elements can be combined into a single electronic device with content contributed by several different manufacturers, but this requires that all manufacturers have access to the controller, which may introduce conflicts in control and ownership of the content of the final controller. Several manufacturers contributing to the content of a single electronic device also introduces complications in manufacturing and limitations in final application design. Further, it may be difficult or impractical to coordinate all manufacturing entities to create software control elements that are compatible, that meet requirements for memory consumption in storage and in real-time operation, that use the correct data types, that are delivered on time and in the correct versions, etc.
Additionally, various system manufacturers have differing preferences for the amount of control content they wish to contribute. The contributed control content may also vary over time, with the specific application, and/or with a model year for a specific application. A control system for a hybrid power train that is specifically tailored for each manufacturer is expensive, unreliable, and must be updated for each change in the control content contributed by the various manufacturers. However, a control system that does not accept control inputs from various manufacturers will not provide acceptable flexibility to many manufacturers.
Therefore, further technological developments are desirable in this area.